Hello friends! I've written this guide to help players achieve all of the ranks, medals, and badges in the game from Bronze to Angelic. I'd like to think I'm a fairly strong player, though certainly not the best, but I do believe I have exceptional talent with efficiently collecting the achievements in the game, and I wanted to share some knowledge, strategies, and general guidance for these. The primary approach with these is efficiency and ease, which in many cases will involve strategies that have unusual gameplay, spammy grinds, sometimes boring ideas, and using every advantage possible. In particular, there will be heavy suggestions with dual-angel games with Angel of Confidence, Overconfidence, Max Carnage, Light Travel, and others. Some players prefer to earn their achievements in a more "pure" way, which is respectable and noble, but that is not the purpose of this guide. I aim to achieve everything as efficiently and strategically as possible within the game. Of course though, there is a difference between cheesy strategy usage compared to undesirable decisions such as "savescumming", modifying the game, hacking, all the way to straight up cheating and lying. This guide is of course only focused on legitimate play.
This guide also assumes you are at least an intermediate player and have a solid, standard base of knowledge already. If you're newer to DoomRL, you may find other guides and the wiki to be more helpful sources. With the rich depth of possibilities in DoomRL, I also can't thoroughly cover every situation, but only provide general guidance, so a lot of success will still fall on the players themselves.
This guide is also extensive and I want it to be as best and precise as possible. If you happen to notice any errors, even nitpicks, or have better strategy ideas that make anything easier or faster, please share and I'll edit it in. If something I've written is also not clear in the language used, please critique that too. Some of my strategies for my unachieved awards may also be too speculative, but I'll always be updating this guide with new ideas.
The first major section will cover some niche and lesser known ideas and strategies that can be generally used, as well as some details on important mechanics. Next will be some strategies on improving efficiency with the rankings of killing the required number of enemies. Finally will be a thorough coverage of every medal and badge with source code details of the exact requirements to earn them, followed with the best strategies to achieve each one.
Miscellaneous Tips and Knowledge-If you play with graphic mode, I highly recommend using the mini-map as a way for faster scanning of the level, as well as being able to see where enemies via Intuition 2 are while you have Berserk or Envirosuit active.
-Pistol kills, knife kills, fist kills, etc are based on what weapon you have at the time of kill. Attacking an enemy with anything and dealing the final blow with your fists is considered a fist kill for example. An enemy dying due to infighting, explosions, fluids, etc, will count as a kill based on whatever weapon you are wielding. Nuking a level and dying will still count all kills based on what weapon you had as you died.
-For some medals and badges that require "knife kills", this specifically means Combat Knife and any modifications. Other melee weapons, even including Subtle Knife do not count as "knife kills" (I'm pretty certain). Knives are a subset of "blades"
-Weapons that are considered a "pistol" are: Pistol, Combat Pistol, Blaster, Trigun, Anti-Freak Jackal, and Grammaton Cleric Beretta.
-Weapons that are considered a "blade" are: Combat Knife, Butcher's Cleaver, Subtle Knife, and Dragonslayer.
-Weapons that are considered a "shotgun" are: Shotgun, Double Shotgun, Combat Shotgun, Assault Shotgun, Plasma Shotgun, Super Shotgun, Jackhammer, and Frag Shotgun.
-Weapons that are considered a "rocket launcher" are: Rocket Launcher, Missile Launcher, Napalm Launcher, and Revenant's Launcher.
-When a powerup effect is close to ending, the text colour for it on your status screen will change.
-Powerup duration is based on the number of actions, not speed, turns, time, or anything else. Taking a step uses up the same amount of duration as fully reloading a Combat Shotgun. Switching tactics to running only wastes one action.
-The definition of visiting bonus levels is simply entering them.
-The definition of clearing bonus levels is by exiting when there are 0 enemies alive. This can be done by any means necessary, including nukes, and the trap for Containment Area can even be skipped so long as all other enemies are dead. Exceptions to this are Hell's Armory where the Shambler must be killed, Hell's Arena where all 3 waves must be cleared, and Deimos Lab due to a programming oversight where all you need to do is activate both levers to open the middle area and exit, no kills necessary.
-Using the Run command followed by the Wait command will quickly and repeatedly use Wait until an enemy appears in your vision, which is helpful for speeding up the real-time of play.
-Thermonuclear Bombs and overcharging a Nuclear Plasma Rifle or Nuclear BFG can be done instantly when you stand over a tile of acid or lava. This can be helpful to save some invulnerability time, or to just make it before it runs out. Overcharging can also be done on Angel of Red Alert and special floors with starting nukes.
-Arachnotrons are unable to destroy Napalm Barrels and you can safely use them for cover. This is not true for Nightmare Arachnotrons or Former Commandos, and also not true for other barrels.
-Hell's Arena rewards for clearing all 3 waves will vary depending on what challenge you are playing. The most notable ones are a Homing Phase Device for Angel of Berserk, Power Pak for Angel of Marksmanship, Red Armor and Platsteel Boots for Angel of Masochism, and randomly 1 of Phaseshift Armor/Ballistic Vest/Acid-Proof Boots on Angel of Humanity.
-Completing Hell's Armory (not Deimos Lab) with taking 0 damage guarantees you either a Nano Pak or Onyx Pak.
-The Vaults generates weapons before armor, so if a Unique item appeared, it is more likely to be a weapon.
-Mt Erebus and The Lava Pits have a higher chance to give Lava Armor over other Uniques.
-With the Juggler trait, you can use the mouse wheel to scroll through all the weapons in your inventory, instead of just your main and prepared slots, which significantly improves the trait. It can also be useful to have multiple weapons of the same kind so that you can switch through them instead of needing to reload, such as with Shotguns.
-Berserker trait when hit makes you Berserk based on what percentage of damage you take, so Ironman trait makes this required value much higher. Because of this, Ironman may be undesireable to pair with Berserker.
-The Trigun's Angel Arm is an instant nuke, does not require any particular tactics, does not make you tired, and decreases your maximum HP by 5 to a minimum of 10 maximum HP. If you have 10 or less maximum HP, you cannot activate Angel Arm. Angel Arm can be activated repeatedly even on the same level. It can be activated even on Angel of Berserk, Marksmanship, Shotgunnery, and Pacifism.
-Azrael's Scythe spawns in place of Longinus Spear if 1) upon entering the level, you have 100% kills, and 2) difficulty is Hurt Me Plenty of Harder. Note that if you cleared Hell's Arena on Nightmare without being hit, you'll get Dragonslayer instead. Azrael's Scythe's Whisper of Death does 20 plasma damage to all enemies on the level, makes you tired, cannot be used when tired, and decreases your maximum HP by 5, to a minimum of 5 maximum HP. However, even with 5 maximum HP, you can still continually use Whisper of Death.
-Picking up the Dragonslayer requires you to be Berserk and to have nothing in all 4 equipment slots. To wield Berserker Armor, you must have Dragonslayer in your weapon slot and have at least half of your maximum HP. Simply picking up Berserker Armor has no restrictions, although enemies are unable to.
-For badges that require depth levels, this considers the difference in depth from when you started to when you finished. That is, bonus levels are ignored, and you still need to go deep enough on Angel of Confidence and Angel of Overconfidence.
-Ammo crates (pinkish) have the following possible drops when destroyed: 30/40 nothing, 4/40 10mm Ammo, 4/40 Shells, 1/40 Ammo Chain, 1/40 Shell Box.
-Armor crates (yellowish) have the following possible drops when destroyed: 45/60 nothing, 4/60 Green Armor, 4/60 Steel Boots, 4/60 Small Med Pack, 1/60 Blue Armor, 1/60 Large Med Pack, 1/60 Protective Boots
-With Intuition 1, levers will give you a hint whether they are beneficial, neutral, or dangerous. Beneficial means it is either harms creatures, armor depot, or meditech. Neutral means it is either floods with water or forces explosions. Dangerous means it is either floods with acid, floods with lava, destroys walls, or summons enemies.
-Regular levers have the following type chances: 1/17 floods with water, 1/17 floods with acid, 1/17 floods with lava, 2/17 forces explosions, 2/17 summons enemies, 2/17 armor depot, 2/17 meditech, 3/17 destroys walls, 3/17 harms creatures.
-For any level that can have barrels, there is a 1 in 22 chance that there are a large number of them and you get the level feeling message "Khe, he, he, this will be a mess...".
-For ammo rooms, a random number from 1 to 3 is added onto the level's danger level. For values 1-4, the ammo room will have 10mm ammo, values 5-10 have shells, values 11-13 have rockets, and values 14 or higher have cells. This means that after you're far enough into a game, ammo rooms will only ever have cells.
-In arena type levels, every enemy has a 50% chance to permanently directly hunt for you, and a 50% chance to be normal.
-Closing doors behind you can be helpful to inform you when an enemy goes through them as you can see when they open from anywhere on the map.
-Nightmare gives double duration for powerups, notably Invulnerability, so in cases where you're relying on good luck and a stack of Invulnerabilities, Nightmare may be easier than Ultra-Violence.
-Nightmare and Angel of Darkness respawn chances increase as time goes on, so it is beneficial to clear through levels quickly, and using Run->Wait can be detrimental.
-On Phobos Base Entry, if an enemy is killed on the furthest edges of the level, it can't respawn.
-When combining Angel of Berserk + Angel of Overconfidence, you begin the game with a Chainsaw. However, you still can get the Chainsaw boost by simply dropping it and picking it back up, effectively giving you a free Berserk Pak whenever needed.
-When combining the Inquisitor Set, a Nanomachic Rocket Launcher, and Berserker trait, you can effectively blow yourself up repeatedly to give yourself a large amount of Berserk.
-A full win is defined as a game with at least 1 JC kill and you having at least 1 HP remaining. Apostle does not count regarding medals and badges for full wins. Any other kind of win is defined as a normal win (regarding badges and medals), including sacrificing yourself against the Spider Mastermind.
-JC once activated can spawn enemies at any time, however, he can only teleport once each time you hit him. Because of this, it's highly recommended not to run away once the fight starts.
-Because the Spider Mastermind has unique AI and tries to take a certain movement path when hit, it is possible to get it stuck in a way that will still appear in your vision, but be in a position where you cannot get hit. First, reach either the top or bottom middle pillars in Dis that are nearby the walls, either on the left or right sides of them, then try to get the Spider Mastermind adjacent to the wall on the opposite side of you at the pillar. Don't be touching the pillar yourself, and be sure to take your time reaching the spot so you don't get killed along the way. If you fire at the Spider Mastermind, it may attempt to move vertically into the wall and will be unable to, and will get stuck if performed from the correct position and with a bit of pathing luck. Once setup, the Spider Mastermind will only be able to move either against the wall or one of the two tiles vertically away from it. From here, you cannot get hit and can even Run->Wait for it to appear in your vision as you chip away at its health. Be cautious not to cause flinching by doing 20 or more damage, or it may break free or even run through the opening. For some visual guidance and proof of Run->Wait safety, see below:
-When you equip the Berserker Armor, Nightmare Demons begin endlessly spawning. This is generally dangerous, but if you create a setup where you are unreachable and surrounded by tiles that they can't spawn on, you can instead let them roam around outside and ideally die while running through acid or lava. This trick can lead to very easy kills and greatly improve your kill percentage. See below for some example images:
-Some players have reported seemingly playing for Strongman Badges correctly, but not earning the corresponding badges. In the coding, the way kills are handled is that there are 4 category counts for "Chainsaw", "Knife", "Melee" (fists), and "Other" kills. For badges that require using only fists, the sum of "Melee" and "Other" kills is compared to total kills. My assumption is there is some strange type of kill that is not captured by either "Melee" or "Other", despite wielding nothing, but I haven't been able to determine if this is true or what it could be. It's possible this was only a bug in previous versions and has since been corrected.
-While it can be tempting at time, going for too many goals simultaneously can be risky and lead to earning none of them. In particular, collecting Assemblies, Exotics, and Uniques that aren't important to your game but needed for various badges, can be distracting. This is different than going for a Silver Badge that would also earn you a Bronze Badge if you create yourself a singular goal, which I recommend if you're confident. It helps to chip away at the medals and badges you want instead of overextending yourself, and it means you also won't need to overextend yourself in future games. Of course though, players who love a more high-risk/high-reward playstyle may want to go for it all.
RanksBelow is the list of requirements to achieve each ranking. They are all based on simply killing enemies, and so with enough time into the game, any player of any skill level should be able to get most of these. However, there are definitely efficient ways of doing so, which is what this section of the guide will cover.
Former Human
Kill 50 Former HumansSimply playing a bit of the game will get you the 50 needed kills. Run around on I'm Too Young To Die and kill every Former Human you find.
Imp
Kill 100 Imps / Kill 10 enemies in meleeSimilarly, 100 Imps is just a matter of playing the game a bit. For melee kills, use a Combat Knife, or the Chainsaw from the easy version of The Chained Court, or even just your fists. A couple points in Brute will make it easy to get kills.
Demon
Kill 100 Demons / Kill 100 enemies in melee / Kill 10 Demons in meleeFor some easy melee kills, play a game on I'm Too Young To Die, put points into Brute and Berserker, and get the Chainsaw from the easy version of The Chained Court. Running around a few games of this should get you all the needed melee kills quickly.
Cacodemon
Kill 100 Cacodemons / Kill 10 Cacodemons with the pistol / Kill 2500 enemiesFor easier pistol kills, use Angel of Overconfidence and also Angel of Max Carnage if preferred, and roam around with Assault Shotgun to damage up Cacodemons and finish them off with Combat Pistol. The Chained Court can also help with some controlled setups for Cacodemons if you want easier gameplay.
Mancubus
Kill 20 Mancubi / Kill 5 Mancubi with the pistol / Kill 5 Mancubi in meleeAngel of Overconfidence helps a lot with speeding up finding Mancubi. Corner shoot them to lure them in, and as they approach, finish them off with the Combat Pistol and Combat Knife for easy kills. Only needing 5 each doesn't take long, even if you have to do it safely and slowly.
Hell Knight
Kill 200 Hell Knights / Kill 50 Hell Knights with the pistol / Kill 20 Hell Knights in meleeHell Knights are a bit tricky to farm kills because they don't appear in great numbers early on, but also disappear for the most part in late games. I would suggest collecting your kills as a part of an Angel of 100 or Archangel of 666 game. Pistol kills tend to be the most awkward to claim, so you could attempt Angel of Confidence with Angel of Max Carnage to give yourself some Hell Knights to take out and decent power to your Pistol. If you want a lazier approach, play with Angel of Red Alert on Nightmare, enter level 3 or 4 of Phobos, wield your Pistol, and simply let the nuke kill everything. It's probably one of the most annoying requirements, but 50 isn't too massive of a number.
Baron of Hell
Kill 500 Barons of Hell / Kill 1000 enemies in melee / Kill 10000 enemiesThese numbers will all come naturally simply through playing enough. If you want to quickly buff your kills, play Archangel of 666, aim to use a melee build in the later game with Dragonslayer, and attack away. Barons are very common and don't require target farming.
Arch-Vile
Kill 500 Archviles / Kill 2000 enemies in melee / Kill 25000 enemiesAs with Baron of Hell ranks, Archangel of 666 and going for the Dragonslayer is the most efficient way to score large number of melee kills and kills in general. Archviles are likewise also pretty common and don't require target farming.
Cyberdemon
Kill 100 Cyberdemons / Kill 50000 enemiesWhile there are various strategies with farming Cyberdemons from Tower of Babel, 100 is a large number of kills, and it is much more efficient to get 100 from playing Archangel of 666. If you obtain the Inquisitor Set and carefully avoid their melee damage, Cyberdemons are very easy to kill. Ripper Chainsaw (B) is generally the best alternative until you find Dragonslayer, or Butcher's Cleaver if you're playing in high-density areas. All this said, unless you're playing on Ultra-Violence or Nightmare, you may need a few of these long runs to find enough Cyberdemons, as well as getting 50000 kills, but once you're at full power and far into the game with high enemy density, you can achieve the most efficient kills by clearing entire floors fairly quickly. If you're feeling particularly lazy, you can also use the Berserker Armor strategy and let Nightmare Demons repeatedly spawn and die until you have all the kills you need.
Apostle
Kill 50 JCsThere are many strategy possibilities for farming JC kills with different pros and cons, which I will cover, but I'll start with what I believe is most efficient overall, and briefly touch on others.
Strategy 1) Angel of Berserk + Angel of Overconfidence. Select Scout and go with Brute->Brute->Berserker->Brute->Intuition/Hellrunner/Finesse to increase damage, allow Berserk, and allowing you to scout out Invulnerabilities. The first levels can be rough, but Run->Wait at a door can help give you some quick kills somewhat safely. Save the Chainsaw boost for JC later, but don't be afraid to use the Large Medpacks. Agility Packs go into the Chainsaw, and then Boots, a pair of Technical Packs can also go into Boots to reduce JC's knockback later, and Power Packs first go into Chainsaw, then Red Armor. Being Berserk with Red Armor (P) minimizes most damage.
Collect Phase Devices, Envirosuits, skip Unholy Cathedral and The Vaults, and enter ideally Limbo, but The Mortuary can work too. Use any Phase Devices available first, then Homing Phase Devices to try to get to the top-right corner where the Nuclear BFG is, but the bottom-right corner can also work. Be cautious of fireballs that can destroy it.
Use floors 5, 6, and 7 to try and find Invulnerabilities, and if possible, then use Homing Phase Devices where needed to get to Dis as quickly as possible. Nuke the Spider Mastermind, head towards JC, and stop a bit past the "d" of the "id" in blood. Use Envirosuits if available, use the Chainsaw boost, and aggressively run at JC in a zig-zag pattern. If you happen to have found an extra nuke, immediately use that once you entered the level for a fast kill as win type is irrelevant.
This strategy is reliant on a bit of luck and is a bit tough for intermediate players, but it's the most efficient way to farm JC kills, even if some runs aren't successful. The keys to this is Berserk keeping you easily alive, the power of Chainsaw, especially while Berserk, and not needing to spend real time with inventory management or most levels.
Strategy 2) Angel of Max Carnage + Angel of Overconfidence. This strategy will involve playing more of the game, and grabbing both the Nuclear BFG and Lava Element, although certainly a regular nuke and Invulnerabilities also works. Any build can also work well. Clear your way through the first 4 floors, saving any Phase Devices and Envirosuits you find. Grab the Nuclear BFG and slowly clear out the other floors and Mt Erebus/The Lava Pits to get the Lava Element. The Nuclear BFG is great for easily clearing most enemies. Nuke Dis, use the Lava Element, and then blast JC with your best weapons available.
This is decently efficient and is less reliant on luck, but requires more time getting through the game. The one big plus is players may find it more fun of a grind to play as there's a lot more versatility.
Strategy 3) Angel of Max Carnage + Angel of Red Alert. This strategy is very slow because you have to play all the way through from the start of the game, and you also have to be cautious to keep mistakes minimal with both game settings being potentially deadly. However, consistency is excellent as all you need is the Lava Element, enter Dis, use it as it gets nuked, and then let the timer expire against JC without needing to actually fight him. Use this strategy if you have no issues with taking your time to collect 50 kills, or simply prefer a fuller experience.